BFF-33 Journalist killed in Kabul bomb blast targeting TV workers: officials

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AFGHANISAN-CONFLICT

Journalist killed in Kabul bomb blast targeting TV workers: officials

KABUL, May 30, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A roadside bomb killed a journalist
and driver after it struck a minivan carrying employees of a private
Afghan television channel in Kabul on Saturday, killing a journalist
and the driver, the network’s news director and officials said.

The pair died when the bus carrying 15 employees from Khurshid TV
was struck, the channel’s news director Jawed Farhad told AFP.

The interior ministry also confirmed the attack, saying the minivan
had been targeted.

“The target of the blast was the vehicle of Khurshid private TV,” a
ministry statement said.

Pictures shared on social media showed a white minibus with
extensive damage to its front.

It was the second such attack targeting employees of the channel in
less than a year.

In August 2019, two passers-by were killed when a “sticky bomb” — a
type of homemade explosive attached to vehicles with magnets — struck
a similar Khurshid TV van.

No group claimed responsibility for that attack, which wounded three
employees, and no one immediately claimed Saturday’s attack.

Afghanistan is one of the world’s deadliest places for journalists,
who face many risks covering the country’s long conflict and who have
sometimes been targeted for doing their job.

The latest attack comes during an overall drop in violence across
much of Afghanistan since the Taliban offered a surprise three-day
ceasefire on May 24.

While the truce ended on Tuesday night, violence has largely
remained low, though Afghan security forces have suffered some attacks
that authorities blamed on the Taliban.

BSS/AFP/MRU/2143hrs